For the recent weeks in our technology class, we have been working on the design and plan stage, in the tutorial unit. We have made our own storyboards, and outlined it. (See below) (Script)

We also made a timeline plan, to always remind us to do. It included lots of deadlines of everything we need to do.

In the beginning of this unit, we made our tutorial criteria, which has all the things that a good tutorial need to have. Be sure to click on the link and check it out. My storyboard meets some those in order to be good.

First is tips & tricks or suggestions. If you saw my script, I made a tip for eating rice with chopsticks. Like put the chopstick in the rice and try to “push” them in your mouth. It’s hard to explain, but with a video that include examples it will be easier.

Second, is credits. I drew a clip just about credits in the end of my story board. I will thank to our school to provide us computers to and opportunities to make our own tutorials. (bla, bla bla,…) And a special thank to my mom for cooking the foods for showing examples in my tutorial.

Third I think should be Labels, which are keywords and subtitles on the screen. Because, I will put “not to hold it too in the front, not too in the back of the chopsticks.”

I think my tutorial is quite good because like what I mentioned that just then, it has those qualities that a good tutorial needs to have. Also it’s pretty useful. For example, if you’re a European or Americans (Not being racist here! 🙂 ) who dose not know how to use a chopsticks and you went to visit Japan, and you’re eating at a local restaurant which serves only chopsticks. Then you are going to face a big problem, that there’s very delicious foods right in front of you but you have no idea how to use chopsticks to eat them. But after watching my tutorial, you should be able to do that. And that also why most of the viewers will try to learn with me. So that they don’t have to worry about it anymore, just in case.

In order to completed this tutorial, I still needs to learn and study something. Mostly the editing skills and other techniques in Imovie, since that’s the program that we’re going to use to edited the video of our tutorial, or maybe filming the video. Because I haven’t used Imovie a lot and I’m not really good at it, so that during the time that we edit together in technology class, I can ask my friend or my teacher to help me with it. In addition, I think it would be good to look at some other tutorials on Youtube about the same topic as how to use chopsticks. Because there might be some importances that I forgot to plan it, because after all this is my first time making one, so I need some examples.

That’s what I’ve did and thought about in the recent couple technology lessons. I hope you enjoyed it, see U all later.

Hello guys. The question of the unit that our class are working on in technology class currently is “what makes a great teacher?” and you will be able to find out my opinion later in this blog post. Also, in this we will be studying and making tutorials.

So, what is makes a good teacher?. Now you might think is it no/less homework, play games every class? No I’m talking about more formal stuff. (Even though that’s what runs into my mind first 🙂 ) I think if you are a teacher, what will be your first priority. Yes, let the student learn the things that you want to teach them, let them improve themselves, and a good teacher, is good at it. If the student couldn’t understand the knowledge that you’re giving to them, then you’re not a good teacher. Also, a good teacher actually shouldn’t always give the student lots of homework. Because, if you’re a good teacher, you should be able to let the student get the knowledge in class. For example, in math, we just use some of the time to learn the strategy of solving problems and the other times because practicing, and maybe a little be of homework to practice also but shouldn’t be much.

In our last tech class, our teacher introduced a IB MYP thing called IB MYP AOS/areas of interaction (click the link to learn more.) And my teacher asked me to think about a question, what areas of interaction should it be for this tutorial unit. I think it should be community and service. Because, when we investigate and analyze tutorials, we were communicating with the internet. Also, when we are going to create a tutorial of our own, we’re trying to teach people how to do things by the internet, which fits with communicate and serves and this unit.

For our technology class is these weeks we had been working on the investigation stage of the tutorial unit. We researched and analyzed some tutorials and we also made on our own for practice. Here’s the google presentation tutorial that I made: And here’s my favorite minecraft video tutorial: I think the similarities about those two videos is that first of all, both of them are trying to teach you something for example the one I made is teaching you how to make a podcast using garage band and my favorite one is to teach you how to make an infinite iron golem farm n minecraft. And second, I think they both have a looooooooot of good features like my favorite one the speaker He speaks loud and clear with good quality of recording. He showed an example of a finished working iron golem farm at the very beginning of the video. For the good things that is in the one that I made is a lot as well. For example like I showed how to make a podcast step by step with very detail; very clear and easy understandable; lots of screen shotsfor specific examples in each step. They also both have bed features like in mine tutorial I didn’t show an examples of a finished podcast. In the minecraft tutorial he said many “um”s which makes him a unprofessional person in minecraft. One more thing I think is the same for both of the tutorials is that they all gave you some suggestion or tips or notes for you when you’re trying to do it. For example mine tutorial said that you to practice really well so that you can record it in one take, without so many complicated editing. And in the minecraft tutorial it said you should remember to leave a two -by – two holes in the center of the spawning platform perfectly alined with the selecting hole underneath it.

I think there’s also plenty of things that they are NOT in common but different. For example, as an tutorial creator, I personally like to make a video tutorial instead of a google presentation tutorial. Because in a video, you can talk and explain about stuffs, MEANWHILE, you also can show examples for all the time. Really different from the video, the google presentation type dose not allow you to do that. You have to type each step and then take some screen shots or whatever you want to show examples. Also I think in the miencraft tutorial it edited the speed of the video like fast forward skip. Unlike that in my google presentation tutorial I edited on the image, screen shots like adding circles and arrows to mark the important or the key part on the screen shots, to make it obvious.

For me if I want to make a tutorial using the knowledge that I already know, it’s going to be really really hard because I OK with the skill of teaching but I need to learn more and about video editing and confident language speaking. Video editing is a big thing and I’m not really good at it that’s why I joyed the tech team to learn something and I did. I think I still need to learn about how to fast forward and skip; how to do voice over and make back ground music; how to add links or texts in the video; , all using I movie. Confident language speaking first requires a script that has good grammar, understandable, and easy to said and pronounce. And THAT need a good English language ability which I’m still working since I’m still in EAL.

Research is a very very important part of investigation things. So in our technology class we made a research sheet for every one so that we can learn more and more about tutorials and how to make a good tutorial. Here’s my research sheet.

We also watched some other people’s favorite and leave comments here’s some examples:

Athul’s blog. I learnt that the soft background music in the video is really good. It’s really good because it makes the video very enjoyable. Like Athul mentioned in the description, the person’s voice was slow and clear with good projection. That’s really good because it makes the video more understandable. The angel of the video shooting was really good. It’s good because it sometime shows you examples of what you should do. He warned you what not to do. It’s very good because you won’t have to experience it the hard way.

Kenryo‘s blog. I really like this magic trick tutorial. I learnt that his cut editing technique was really good. It’s good because it makes the video more interesting and enjoyable. Like he is sitting here right now and in the very next second, he went out from the left of the video. He briefly explained about what he will be teaching in this video. It’s really good and important because makes the viewer easy to make their decision whether if they watch interested in thins. And I also like the way he talks, it’s really interesting. That’s good because it can attracts the viewer’s attention.

Charlie’s blog. For his blog, I learnt that he editing in the video is really good. First, the sound ducking technique was really good and interesting. Like sometimes there is that cool music but not when the person is speaking. That good because it makes the video very enjoyable. Second, I like the way that there’s a person on the side explaining about the video and there’s a TV on the other side which show examples of what he was explaining. It’s really good because it makes the video very interesting and attracts people. And, third, I really like how they the video inside the TV in the video. Like pause the video inside the TY and add some key- words. That very good because it helps you to understand and memorize the key parts. I also really like the end part where the person review all the things that we learnt in this video. It’s helpful and good because it help you the remember what you learned from this video.

During this investigation stage of our tutorial unit, I learnt a lot of stuff. For example, tutorials does not have to be video type, it can also be a google document type like mine or any type you that you would like to make. Also good editing skills are needed and you can have some good background musics and maybe even indestructible video if you want to make a good tutorial. Also, I get some pretty good inspirations during this stage when I watch the videos on the research sheet and the tutorials on my friend’s blog. Like magic tricks or basketball skills. And a lot more in the this document that we made. I’m going to make sure that I use and apply all those good features into my tutorial by always checking the the tutorial criteria and keep that in my mind that we made. It’s really important to set goals and reminder to always remind your self what is good and what’s not. I learnt and studied a lot of things, you can see them by all the works that I showed you. I think we can only do things well if grasped the basis.

I hope you all enjoyed that video. This is my favorite minecraft tutorial that I investigate because first of all, that’s the only video that can work for every version of minecraft on my computer. Also, I think it’s easy to follow and build because he gave me very simple,understandable and detailed instructions and tips. Which is awesome so that the people who watched it can follow build easily by them selfs. The voice of the person who made it is really loud and clear which is easy to hear. And the quality f the the video it self was also pretty good you can see it clearly. Those are really good and important because the viwer won’t get confused like nit sure what they are seeing or hearing. One of those quite important things that I learnt from the video is the red stone idem filter. I realized that in some other tutorials or other thing that you want to build in minecraft it also requires some idem filter technique to build them. It is really awesome and after I tried it at home, it actually did worked and I suggest you to try as well.

And what he didn’t did really well is that he said “um” often in the video. It is bad because sounded like he is unprofessional. Also I think it’ll be better if he also explained about the idem filter in the video. It’s not really good the we won’t need to go to the description bar and look for the link.

Also, I would really like to share my SECOND favorite minecraft tutorial. This one is teaching about how to build an mini farm.

I hope you enjoyed that video too. The reason why I really like this minecraft tutorial is that he showed a finished and working mini farm at the very beginning of the video. It is good because like I mentioned just then, it’s easy for people to choose. Also he gave some tips for example, there’s a tip about when you’re using the cocoa bean, you have to click on the edge of the jungle wood. It is good because it gives people a short cut so that we won’t need to experience it in the hard way. And he gave very detailed informations as well. Like how many blocks should you build now. This is a good thing because it is easy to follow when you’re watching.

And I think there’s still something the the person who made this tutorial can improve on. For example like, he did talked really clear or it’s the machine that he used to record’s quality isn’t really good. That’s not really hulpful because that it’s kind of hard to hear. He also didn’t mention that it will only works in which version. That’s bad because some people with another version might be confused why they can’t make it work like me. But in the video is was really cool so I think you should try.

PS: If you’re interested in minecaft but you don’t have one on your computer, here’s the link to download.

For the few weeks of technology class we’ve been working on the create part of the design cycle. We tried our best to create a blog as we designed in the design part of the cycle. We changed the theme, we changed our header image, we completed our widgets, we even wrote a PAGE of our self. (Mine is at the very top, below the header image, it’s called “About the author”. We also customized our menu there’s a video.

I really like this theme because I love animals and move stuff. Notice when you are scrolling up or down, the back ground of my theme IS MOVING randomly back and force or up and down. This theme is called :” Something fishy”( just in case you want one too.)

I’m proud of my blog because it has a special ability. When ever I go to my blog, it don’t show me the first post but instead it shows me the blog idea brainstorm post and I’ve absolutely no idea why. BUT, with my theme’s spacial ability the problem CAN BE SOLVED. So you’ll notice that there’s a little worm on a fishing hook on the left side of my blog. If your courser on it (don’t click) it says : “get me outta here!” which means “Go to the top!” Really cool isn’t it.

Well you don’t understand that it’s OK, because I made a video to help to explain.

I really want to talk about the header image because we actually leant about how to create your own header image. (PS: It’s really cool). We used a program called Photo Shop. I used to think that’s the kind of program that only guinness computer hacker would’ve use to make a fake photo, in China we call it PS which stands for photo shop. The reason why we don’t use the header that is already in the Word Press is it’s too boring and we want it to represent our self so we decided to create our own header image. Because the picture that we want for the internet is too big and too tall so the first thing we do is make layer in the photo shop and copy the image that you selected. Then make another one but the this time you have to decide the size that can fit your blog. After you choose the part you want, you can write your name on it and change the front. To make a shadow, you just need to make your name again in black and move it around.

In the past few weeks of technology class we had started the design and plan part of the cycle.

The first thing we did was decide and draw 3 designs of our blog on paper like how do we want it to look like. For example what kind of header image do you want your blog have , what kind of theme do you want your blog to have to represent you and what kind of background do you want your blog to have. Then we need to choose one that I like best and label it, write why do you like it and how dose it represent you. For example, I really like nature so on the paper, I drew my theme about grasses and sky and I also like moving stuff so I choose this theme called “a bit Fishy”on my blog on the computer.( Personally I kind of like this name.) But the hard thing was that on the paper you can control the images and background to make to into the one you like. Unlike on the Word Press you can only choose the one that are there. So you needs to choose one design that you draw and then select the most similar one on the computer.

Of course, there’s still a long long way till the end of the blog cycle, so here’s some things that I still want to learn: 1. I want to know how to create a menu. 2. I want to learn how to change header image. 3. I want to know how to add some little interesting widgets. 4. I want to know how to add a link. I’ll try to learn them by asking friends and teacher also use internet to search for the answer.

In technology we had a unit is called Became A Blogger. We learnt the first part of the design cycle—- investigation. We had investigate a LOT of blogs and done a lot work to figuring out what is a good blog, what a good blog needs and what a blog do not want to have. We used this google document to investigate.

The top four things that is important to my are:

1 Video, I think people these days like moving pictures so eye-catching video won’t let the reader get bored .

2 Photo, I think if we don’t have a lot interesting images the reader might get bored.

3 Titles, I think we don’t want to get the reader confused.

4 Design, I think the design has to be reasonable. We don’t want the title to under the posts.

I’ll make sure that my blog has the top four things by read it before I work on it, during the time I work on it and check it after I finished my post.

I learnt how to make a blog, I used to think it’s super hard but now I think it’s not that hard that i had imagined. I also learnt that you had to make sure what you are posting think before you post that web is not safe. I think the posts needs to be simple, easy to understand, not too complicated otherwise the people who look at it would get bored.

That is my brainstorm. My brainstorm include three big idea, each one has three small idea, and each small idea has two mini idea. My blog represents me by showing my FAVORITE stuff such as basketball, music and movies. But it’s also represents me by showing where am I and who am I. For example, I’m in Japan right now and I’m a boy, eleven years old.

This investigation unit is quite important because we spent a lot of time on it: two classes of talking and thinking what is a good blog, two classes of investigating and thinking about the criteria, and finally, one class of brain-storming our blog.